Travis shrugs back into his jacket as he hustles the girls out of the station and into the car McCreedy has waiting – they’re onlygoing three blocks, but it’s better than walking in the rain. Kristin commandeers the front passenger seat as he and Emma pile in the back. The interior of the Plymouth smells of damp clothes and vinyl and Marlboros.
‘Emma, a question.’ Kristin twists around to talk as the car pulls out. ‘You said earlier today, when the detectives were showing us around the crime scenes, that this killer is smart. Is it something to do with the way he’s evading law enforcement?’
Travis feels Lewis shift beside him, close enough that he can feel her warmth.
‘Maybe.’ Her fingers are tight on the folder of notes in her lap. ‘Or maybe it’s the posing, the nature of displaying the bodies … It’s like the fantasy is more detailed, more complex. All the literature we have on serial predators says that a more complex fantasy indicates a more intelligent perpetrator. But it’s just my hypothesis. I don’t know exactly. It’s just a feeling.’
Travis has his own question. ‘At the briefing, you said he’s local and blue-collar. Where did you get that?’
‘The previous girl, the second victim, was arranged in an alley in Southside. The first victim was beneath the overpass in the … place with the weird name …’ She checks the notes.
‘Seldom Seen Greenway,’ he provides.
‘Right.’ She passes him the folder. ‘I mean, those seem like street-smart, local-knowledge locations. But this new girl is the kicker. Patti Doricott was arranged at the bus stop.’
‘You can look up the timetable to get the route.’
‘But would a white-collar person choose a scenario like a bus stop? Risking being seen by waiting commuters, timing the bodydump between bus pickups … No, he knew the route. And public transport means blue-collar.’
‘He caught the bus before, maybe?’ Travis tucks the folder into his satchel.
‘It’s possible.’
‘But we know he’s got a vehicle.’
‘I don’t know. Something happened. He got access to a vehicle.’
Travis is thinking about it. ‘And he’s got a house where he can take the victims.’
‘Maybe the housewiththe vehicle.’
Kristin weighs in. ‘Inheritance? The death of a spouse or a parent, and he inherited means?’
‘That sounds plausible.’ Emma swipes her face on her sleeve against the humidity. ‘These guys don’t just wake up one morning and decide to go on the rampage. There’s always a trigger – a breakup, a job loss, a death. Something sets them off.’
Travis gives her a hard stare. ‘How do you know all this?’
‘I studied it.’
‘You studied it. What, as part of your psych course?’
‘No.’ She is determinedly looking away. ‘I … researched it. Out of personal interest.’
‘Oh – youresearchedit out of personal interest.’ He can’t help himself. ‘But you still say you don’t want to be involved with the FBI.’
The blushing glare she directs at him is oddly satisfying.
‘Okay, fine.’ Travis rolls the window down an inch, for fresh air and a diversion. ‘So here’s another question – how is he choosing the victims?’
Emma composes herself. ‘That I don’t know. The killer’s following a really specific set of criteria. It’s linked to something in his mind, something …’ She shakes her head. ‘I’m stuck on that, but the posing is important.’
‘And the pink nails? That’s part of it, right?’
‘It’s got to be.’
Kristin’s eyes drift north when she’s thinking. ‘The way he dresses and prepares the girls, it’s definitely something to do with obsessions around marriage and love … Is that consistent with Huxton?’
‘Huxton put us in white dresses. He gave us all rings. He never called us brides, that was all the media after the fact, but that’s what he was doing.’ Emma stares out the car window at someplace horrific, and her hand makes a nervous detour over her dark scalp stubble. She blinks herself out of it. ‘For Huxton, it was like a cruel joke. But for this guy, the bridal image is meaningful. It’s important – ritualistic. It’s part of the staging he needs to play out his fantasy.’
